john999

My windows is running again since I had to restart it a few times and then it was ok. I also like windows 7 and I have that format instead of the 8 format. I am going to upgrade to 10 and then use the ninite.com to get classic start to get the 7 mode for start menu. I knew you nerds here would be able to help me. Before I became such a cripple I could keep up with changes but now I am lucky to even do email. I had an Apple 11-E once upon a time. Floppy disks and those external disk drives and DOS. I took a course in DOS and now have forgotten it all. I even took a course in 4tran to try and lean something. The teacher had us solving equations. What a waste. John

My windows which is 8 is forcing me to upgrade to 8.1, but when I try to upgrade it fails and shuts down and has a fit. I tried just a little bit ago to just upgrade to Windows 10 and that failed. What am I or my machine doing wrong?

I have been SC'ed for PN in both feet for years now. My newest PCP states in her notes she dx'es Charcot's disease. I read up on this and it sounds bad. Does this mean I have reached a new level of PN or have I developed a new disease from the PN that is also SC. My feet have not responded to any treatments and hurt like hell. I know that nobody is able to actually help me with this suffering but can I get more money? What else is there since I have a hell of a time just getting around to the VA anymore. John

I had a cardiac C&P exam that was done by a nurse who was training another nurse. She did such a horrible job I appealed the rating I got because she did not even order any tests or do an exam. She just asked me if I had chest pains. I got a 0% rating thanks to that awful exam. I got some new evidence and appealed and got 60% via the DRO. I am not even sure my VA hospital has a cardiologist or cardiac surgeon on staff. I have been 60% for the cardiac condition since 2008 and I have never seen a cardiologist at the VA. I have a private cardiologist.

Zat I think you are going to push it until you lose what you have. You keep trying to find a way to keep your 100% compensation rate and work and keep all P&T benefits. Have you read what it actually takes to get 100% scheduler for a mental health psychotic disorder? I have know many people with severe depression who have gotten better and then have relapse and lost their jobs etc. You are out of your wits to keep pursuing this unless you can get 100% scheduler by some other way than a depression case. There is something called wanting to have your cake and eating it as well. Just please don't start talking about work at the VA. You can be as boneheaded as you want, but try and keep your mouth shut at the VA. John

I have in my paperwork that when I reach 69 I don't have to send in the 21-4140 any more. That will be three years from now. When you hit the 20 year mark what becomes permanent? Are you permanent TDIU P&T? I won't have 20 years until I reach 71 and a half. Asknod says the VA likes to call in old TDIU vets just before they hit the 20 year mark and reevaluate them. Would I suddenly become employable at age 70? I can barely walk two blocks as it is due to SC neuropathy.

I am 66 years old and have been TDIU P&T since August, 2001. I have SMC "S" because I got an extra 60% in 2008 for heart disease as a complication of SC DMII due to AO. I have a 70% rating as headcase, 60% rating for heart, 20% rating for DMII and four ratings for PN in all four limbs. I don't make it to 100% and never will unless I have a heart attack or maybe get cancer related to AO. I am not looking forward to that case. I will have 20 years in at 90% TDIU P&T when I am 71 years old. I was on SSDI until I hit 66 and now just regular SSA. I wonder if the VA will decide I no longer am TDIU or P&T 9 months before my 71st birthday if I am still alive. I do wonder what the VA will do when I get close to the 20 year mark for TDIU P&T? Will I improve and suddenly be able to go out and get a job at age 71? That is a littler over 5.5 years away. I guess I should try and get 100% scheduler, but with recent interactions I have had with the VA I think any more interactions with them could be fatal to someone, hypothetically speaking.

Zat954 I probably overacted to your post. You must realize that when dealing with the VA you are dealing with fire. These people are unethical, immoral and criminal at times. If I was 37 I would not want to be consigned to the junk pile either. However, since you are P&T this means your wife and kids can get help with schooling. Does your wife get a caretaker stipend? If you keep your 100% rating for ten years your wife will be eligible for DIC if you die before her. Most of your rating is for a mood disorder. Working would indicate an improvement in this disorder. I, too, have a mood disorder and other MH disorders. I get SMC "S". It is about $300 a month. The most important thing you have going is the P&T and Chapter 35 benefits. I assume the main problem that has kept you out of work and led to your retirement is the mood disorder. Vets whose 100% or TDIU is based on a mental health disorder come under a special consideration. Working is the main factor that separates a 70% vet with a mood disorder and a TDIU or 100% vet with a mood disorder. If the VA were to learn that you had completed voc rehab and were working I bet they would haul you in for another evaluation on that mood disorder and reduce it to 30% if you are lucky. How would that affect your overall P&T compensation or even TDIU? I think it would kill it. If I were you I would take every penny I could get, but I would think long and hard about every mentioning the word "Work" to the VA much less actually working. They love to slam/dunk vets they think have improved and working would show a vast improvement in at least your mental health situation. Just because the regs. say this or that does not mean the VA will not wreck your home and family fighting you. They are immortal as an institution. You are not and they have decades to screw you around while you go broke and your kids grow up and you and your wife get older. I imagine it took years to get P&T. It could take years to get it back.

Our lives are more important that any rating or compensation claim. Those clowns at the VA don't care if you live or die. Even when you use their dental service I think they envision pulling every tooth in your head and fitting you with dentures. I would rather pay for the medical/dental care myself rather than let those slobs treat me. The whole system is just a disgrace. They don't fear medical malpractice claims. John

I would ask you if you want to live? If you do then get a second opinion outside the VA. Other than that I agree Broke. There is paperwork and there is your life at stake. Watchful waiting your widow can do for you when you are in the ground if you follow VA advice. VA medical advice frightens me. John

If you are 100% scheduler or TDIU and have an extra 60% above, beyond and separate from the initial 100% or TDIU rating then you are eligible for statutory "S". If you are 100% and you are substantially confined to your home with or without the extra 60% you may be eligible for "S". Do you work at home? How do you think the VA views a vet who wants to get 100%, "S" and go back to work full time? Do you think that asking for all these benefits and wanting to work at the same time is reasonable? I think you are crazy to even think about working under these conditions. I would not ask for "forgiveness" later after the VA learns somehow you are working and getting "S" and then drags you in for a C&P exam . There is no forgiveness. Do you think American public intended for vets to be 5X dippers when they invented VA compensation for 100% disabled vets? Are you going to apply for SSDI as well and then look for a loophole so you can also work full time and gather all known benefits for you and yours? How crazy are you? You have 70% for a mood disorder. Your post has put me in a bad mood thinking how greedy you are. Jesus, man, think about what you are asking for! I have been p&t for 16 years and have not worked a day in that time. That is because I can't work. I am not trying to play the system and make a mockery of VA compensation. You think you should get your retirement, 100% from the VA, housebound, and work full time. You must be crazy like a fox because only a "get over" could dream up that plan. Excuse me but I want to vomit.

I called them and they pick up the call in New York. I am in Tampa Florida. They referred me to crises people in Tampa. I called them and got a recorded message saying they would call me back in 24 hours. I reminded them later than in 24 hours the vet calling them could be dead. They said they handle all crises calls immediately. I referred them to "Lying Ted" for clarification. If I were actually suicidal or homicidal I would call my private doctor. If he could not talk sense to me I would commit myself. I only call VA for VA problems. Don't you hate it when someone lies right to your face.

The VA is failing us. They will continue to fail us. We will die with curses on our lips unless we correct this situation somehow.

Broke I get script for oxycodone so I can't renew online. I must send in pain assessment every month and then wait for my doctor to forget to renew my meds or for nurse to screw up each and every month. I do everything right but they still manage to drop the ball. I get my meds via UPS or FedEx and I must sign for them. Do you get any opiates for pain? I start calling 5 days ahead of the date to have my script renewed because I know they will forget or screw it up somehow. I get one month's supply so by the end of the month I am running low. I get nervous. When I get nervous I start calling. This month I just could not get anyone to return calls or secure emails. This drove me up the wall. Situation fixed as of now ,but next month the same old thing. I do need to either withdraw from the meds or get an honest or dishonest doctor in Florida to prescribe for me. I am not a drug addict but just a chronic pain victim and I know you know about that. John

I like to call it "Whore's Glory" after the documentary. How can the VA compensation system get worse? How can the VA get worse? Is there a finite level of disservice to vets or does it just get worse and worse over time? I went all the way to Federal Court with my CUE and they refused to hear it. I think my lawyer is not taking VA claims anymore. He spent 8 years on mine from RO to CAVC to the Fed. Court. If you want to win you have to play the game but waiting 12 years is not winning even if you do win. Water Boarding would be kinder I think than to lead a vet by the nose for 12 years with promise of justice if you just keep appealing. I am 66 years old and have been filing claims since 1972. I have won most of them but lost many as well before I started to read Hadit and talk to guys and gals like AskNod and Berta Simmons. After all these years I do think that anyone who joins the military thinking they will be taken care of has good case for 100% mental disability. The Compensation and Pension exam system has been corrupt since my first exam more than 40 years ago. I have been called a liar, fake, fraud, personality disorder many times by so-called doctors who do these exams. Thankfully, I had great IME doctors who I had been seeing on my own and paying for on my own for decades. I was told by one pension doctor that RVN vets with DMII get fat just so they can have \ limbs amputated for more money. This is the doctor who was doing my DMII exam for an increase which I got. Am I living in alternate universe where people have they legs chopped off just to get a few more bucks every month? If I reported the doctor what would happen? He would deny ever having said it and I would have more enemies at the VA.

I got so upset today about not getting my critical meds I called the VA crises line. I was told there was nothing they could do since the phone call was being received in New York and I live in Florida. I was referred to a number in Tampa where I live. This is a VA line. I called and got a recorded message. I went nuts. I called Patient Advocate and got a recording. I called my Team and got nothing. I called my congressman and they brushed me off. I almost called 911. I sent secure email and told my team I was going to ask congresswoman to open a criminal investigation in regards crisis line neglect. I smeared excrement every where I went to impress the anger I was feeling at being left in darkness about critical drugs I need to get on time with no dumb delays or screw-ups. It turns out my nurse on my team made an error. She said "Sorry about that" which made it all better in her mind. My wife tells me to get out of the VA system because she knows this is going to happen every month. She is right, of course, but I cling to idea that the VA owes me medical care for SC illness/injuries. Also, living in Florida which is Pill Mill capital of the USA it is hard to get honest doctors to prescribe opiates. I live in chronic pain and when I tell my shrink about it she tells me "Before you kill yourself call us". If I had been at the point of hanging myself I would have gotten a recorded message and would be swinging from a tree branch by now. This is criminal neglect. The pharmacists says there are hundreds of vets like me not getting meds on time and they are understaffed. How can this be with billions being spent on patient care and suicide prevention?

People at the VA should be on their way to jail instead of a bonus. I called the VA hot line earlier today and I got a recorded message. This was after I called crisis line and was referred to the office in Tampa. Every month I have a struggle/crises getting my medications. This time the nurse failed to sign some document. I could not get in touch with a soul on my Team for two days. I called every number in the book except 911. If I had been calling with a gun pointed at my head my brains would be on the wall by now. I need to have my meds on time. It is critical and yet the VA treats me like a unhappy child. I saw my VA shrink yesterday and she said my depression was getting worse and adjusted my meds. So here I am a depressed vet calling hot line and getting a recorded message that they will call back in a few days. No wonder vets are killing themselves. I called the pharmacy for the tenth time and it was explained to me that they are getting 1000% more scripts for opiates than they used to get. Whose fault is that I wonder? The fault must be the sick and hurting vets who depended on the VA for care. I need to start a new topic just to describe my disappointment and despair with my treatment at the VA.

A 0% rating for an anxiety disorder is unheard of IMO. If your anxiety affects you in any significant way you should get 30%. If you have it at all it is 10%. You need to appeal your ratings on both ratings. I would suggest getting IMO/IME from private doctors and submitting this as evidence along with your NOD. When did you get this rating?

Have you run your CUE by a veteran's lawyer to see if he/she would take the case? Now I lost a CUE after almost eight years and a trip to the federal court. I had a lawyer all the way and we both thought my case was a slam/dunk. Just wait until you get to Veteran's Court of Appeals if it gets that far. You most definitely will need a lawyer and even the best ones can lose. Mine was a very old CUE claim that stretched over almost 40 years. The laws had changed so often what appeared to be common sense today was not common back in 1972. AskNod has said to me that if you cannot see your CUE from the moon it will probably not fly. It must be very, very obvious with no thought involved. The COVA knows they screw thousands of deserving ,but they stick to the law and will beat you to death with it. John

I make sure I have backup. Ask me no questions and I will tell you no lies. The VA has been as much as ten days late on my narcotic meds and I have been in pain management for many years. The VA will screw up your meds no matter how bad you need them. The reason they are so difficult with any type of opiates is they thing they will get into trouble if you OD or get caught selling your drugs etc. They don't care about your health or pain. They care about their rear ends is all. Protect yourself at all times when you deal with these jerks. If is our job to use them and not be used by them. You can tell I really love these people. The doctors at the VA are the ones who could not do a practice on the outside, or because they are just lazy and incompetent. John

I have been taking Provigil for OSA because I am often sleepy during the day. The only problem I am having with it is that normal dose drives up my blood pressure. It does wake me up and motivate me. I am cutting my normal dose in half to see it if it still drives my BP too high. John

I can tell you for sure that SSA/Medicare checks your income with about a year lag time. What I found out was that my premium for Medicare Part B was increased by almost 70 bucks a month because I have some investments and back in 2014 I took some capital gains. Now in 2016 my Medicare premium is increasing by the 70 bucks I mentioned. Someone is awake at bean counter's office at SSA. My passive income does fluctuate from year to year depending on what my account manager and me decide. VA, Worker's Compensation and SSA do communicate if they think we are getting double pay or making a dime too much from anybody. Too bad they do not communicate when a vet is trying to show he is TDIU or 100% and has been getting SSDI for ten years. I have been TDIU for 15 years and I mail in the Employment Questionaire every year and sometimes every six months. The VA never acknowledges receipt or non receipt. The ideal situation for vets according to our government is for them to get just enough so that they do not die in the street and embarrass anyone. Everybody loves us except when it comes time to pay the bill. They are going to build a monument to WW1 vets now that all are dead and can't make any claims.

After 20 years whatever rating you have is supposed to become untouchable. In no way am I thinking of working after age 71, but just hoping to reach that age. I just don't like reading in VFW magazine letters from vets who fear that VA will take away their TDIU when they get 66 years old. I lost the most productive work years of my life due to VA disability. I interpret the TDIU as VA's way of making up for this continuing loss. I hope that is the case. If a PTSD vet with 100% rating reaches 20 year mark his rating of 100% is permanent and not subject to reduction according to VBM as are all of us who have any ratings for 20 years. It just seems there are those who want to make a special case of us TDIU vets. My SSDI became regular SSA as did my FERS disability. If I can make it to age 70.5 I will start distributions from my IRA/Annuity as will my wife and I think we will have enough regardless. I know congress threatens to cut TDIU for old timers every few years. They don't know or choose not to understand our plight.

If any of us do hit the 20 year mark being TDIU for that entire 20 years then I assume your TDIU rating becomes permanent and untouchable. Does this mean the VA just grants you a permanent rate of 100% or a permanent rate of TDIU? I sure won't be young enough to go out and start working as I will be 71 years old when I get 20 years at TDIU. However, according to what I understand I could go get a job if I wanted to and nothing the VA could do about it. I just wish the VA would convert all of us P&T TDIU vets to straight 100% so we would not have periodic scares regarding having TDIU taken away when we reach full retirement age.

The VA fears us and at the same time they have no respect for us. American commanders since the Revolutionary War have considered their enlisted men as scum. The VA feels all vets are scum who just want a free ride. I have had this expressed to me by VA C&P exam doctor. I found that out in 1972. When you are in a combat zone the enemy is in front of you and behind you back at home. I am not really paranoid, but this is my conclusion since I got out of the army in 1971. We vets are so low in priority that any group with a few bucks can back down the VA and steal land right from under their nose that could be used to treat or house sick vets. I have seen this in my city over and over again. A national guard armory that was supposed to be converted to a treatment center for vets was instead sold off to the highest bidder. The VA is still killing vets by delays and negligence while they put us through c&p exams where the doctors suspect us all of being frauds. John